You've seen it on the news and likely feel it in your wallet: bills are soaring. But you can do a few simple things to save energy and reduce your utility bills.
Smart home devices can help you save money on your energy bills and water usage while also making the planet healthier.
From smart light bulbs to smart irrigation systems, the efficiency and savings come from the ability of a smart home device to do things automatically, such as adjusting the thermostat at night or turning off the lights when you’re not home. You can install any of these devices without much fuss or money and quickly experience the benefits. And if you install a few, they can work together, and your savings can compound too.
In this article, we’ll explain how smart home devices can save you energy and money, and reveal our top picks of smart home devices to try.
Choosing Energy-Efficient Devices
What should you look for when choosing smart-home devices?
If you're new to smart home automation, the best approach is to work out which smart home devices are geared toward ease of use, convenience and maximum savings.
To help make life easier, we've listed the must-have smart-home devices.
1. Smart light bulbs
Ever returned home from a holiday only to realise that you left all the lights on for two weeks? This is where smart light bulbs come in.
Smart lights are designed only to be on when you need them, so you'll use less electricity. You can put them on automated schedules or set them up so that they automatically turn off when you leave the room or turn on when you walk through the front door.
According to
energyrating.gov.au, lighting accounts for around 10% of electricity usage in Australian households, so even the smallest change can make a big difference.
You have tons of great options – there are smart light bulbs for indoor and outdoor use in a wide variety of bulbs and styles. Look for dimmable smart light bulbs, as this helps you save energy when the lights are on too. Some smart bulbs can even be controlled with voice commands or using a free app on your phone, meaning you can control them when you’re not in the house.
2. Smart thermostats
A smart thermostat automates your home’s heating and cooling system to maximise comfort and energy efficiency.
While you can invest in better home insulation and windows, a smart thermostat brings almost instant savings on your utility bills for a fraction of the cost. They raise and lower your settings to save energy while keeping your home consistently comfortable.
Your smart home savings depend on many variables (your home’s building material, how much you use heating and cooling, and the climate), but you’ll be surprised at the difference even one degree can make to your bills. According to
energy.gov.au, every degree you increase your heating over 20 degrees Celsius can add up to 10% to your energy use.
For maximum ease, look for a smart thermostat that will program itself throughout the day so you won’t have to. Compatibility is a big factor in which smart thermostat you choose – look for a model which will work with your heating and cooling systems. Most brands provide a compatibility checker on their websites.
There are many features you can look for depending on how much you want to spend. For example, some thermostats come with miniature remote temperature sensors which you can place around your home to more accurately even out heating and cooling. Others, like the Nest Learning Thermostat, take it a step further by tracking your schedule and temperature trends over time to create a heating and cooling schedule based on when you’re usually home or away.
3. Smart irrigation systems
Irrigation systems are brilliant for ensuring that your garden stays green and your vegie patch is watered. But if you don’t monitor them closely, they can waste gallons of water by irrigating when you don't need it.
That’s where smart irrigation systems come in. They don’t just ‘set and forget’ but can be set up to consider how much water your garden needs depending on the weather, so you never water too much or too little.
Consider how many zones you want to water, and ensure the smart controller has enough capacity to support all the zones in your system. Other top features include a flow meter to provide leak alerts (another way to save water), and a smartphone app to make it easy to control remotely.
Some models use hyperlocal weather forecasts to optimise watering and can create a schedule automatically without you needing to program manually. However, this may require you to subscribe to climate and weather information packages, so include this in your budget.
Expect to pay anywhere from $150 for a basic residential irrigation system to $750 for multiple zones and advanced features.
4. Smart plugs
Take a quick look around your home and count how many appliances and gadgets are currently plugged in. Computers, TVs, coffee makers, gaming consoles – many devices use electricity even when they are switched off, because they go into standby mode and never fully power down. They might only suck a tiny bit of electricity, but this “vampire energy” can amount to
up to 10% to your electricity bill. That’s 10% of your electricity bill that you're paying for but not even using!
Smart plugs can make a big difference. Smart plugs are essentially remote controls for plugs. They sit between your regular socket and device plug, and can let you control your sockets, usually via a smartphone app, to help reduce wasted energy. You can turn outlets on and off at scheduled or random times, or set up your plugs so that they turn on or off at the same time as other linked smart devices.
Smart plugs are a straightforward and budget-friendly way to benefit from smart home savings. No need for programming skills or an installer to set up smart outlets – simply download the app and plug in your device.
Some smart plugs also come with built-in energy tracking, which tells you how much energy any device plugged into it uses over time – great if you suspect that a particular device is gobbling up your energy.
Also, consider where you will place the plug. For example, choose a mini model for tight spots behind furniture.
Implementing Smart-Home Automation
Smart home automation is ripe with benefits. Apart from improving energy efficiency and saving money on utility bills, they can help improve home security, maximise convenience through remote monitoring and control, and also enhance independence for those with accessibility and mobility challenges.
One of the best advantages of smart-home devices is that they can typically be implemented using your smartphone, letting you control the devices remotely, set timings based on your schedule, or even set them up to perform actions on their own.
Let’s say you’re heading out to work on a hot summer’s day. There’s nothing worse than coming home to a stinking hot house at the end of the day. But thanks to your smart thermostat, your cooling switches on before you get home from work. Smart thermostats can learn precisely how long it takes for your home to reach your preferred temperature, so it will turn on at the exact time needed to perfectly cool your home while also maximising the amount of time it spends in energy-saving mode. By the time you walk through the door, the house is the perfect temperature ready for you to enjoy.
No need to worry about your tomato patch becoming parched either. Your smart irrigation system monitors the temperature and rainfall forecast, then turns on to give your previous tomatoes the optimum amount of water.
Here are some simple ways to reduce energy consumption and maximise savings with your smart home devices and beyond:
With energy prices skyrocketing, there’s never been a better time to invest in smart home devices and take power back into your own hands. From smart thermostats that heat or cool rooms to match your daily schedule to smart plugs that kill ‘vampire energy’, smart home devices can help you save energy and money - but if that wasn't enough, check out
Circles Life's SIM-only plans for even more cost savings. Enjoy unbelievable deals to get the most value from your money.
Switch to Australia’s Most Trusted Mobile Plan Provider
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
Buy Plan
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
Buy Plan
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
Buy Plan
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
Buy Plan
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
Buy Plan
*Offer ends 16/08/2024. All for use in Australia. Personal use only and not a broadband replacement. Plans auto renew every month. Roll over your unused base data monthly and build up to a massive 500GB. Data will not expire while plan remains the same, but may be lost if plan is upgraded or downgraded. On selected plans only. T&Cs apply, refer to our Critical Information Summaries and General Terms.
**Additional charges and T&Cs apply for International Roaming and International Dialing.
Switch to Australia’s Most Trusted Mobile Plan Provider
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
- Includes Data Rollover Data rollover lets you carry over any unused data at the end of the month, over to your next month.
- No-lock in contracts
- Unlimited calls and text
- International Roaming and International Dialing packs available**
*Offer ends 16/08/2024. All for use in Australia. Personal use only and not a broadband replacement. Plans auto renew every month. Roll over your unused base data monthly and build up to a massive 500GB. Data will not expire while plan remains the same, but may be lost if plan is upgraded or downgraded. On selected plans only. T&Cs apply, refer to our Critical Information Summaries and General Terms.
**Additional charges and T&Cs apply for International Roaming and International Dialing.
Circles.Life
